He did notice that his hair wouldn't lay down straight, and that the collar of his black undershirt shirt kept drooping down his neck. It was only mildly irritating, at first. He brushed his hair down with his hands, pulled his collar up, and kept reading his paper. His hair kept falling in that weird position regardless, and the back of his shirt wouldn't stay in place either. When had it gotten so loose?

Eventually, it bothered Sanzo enough that he got up and changed his shirt, only to find that the shirt he changed into was doing the same thing. It annoyed him, so he gave up trying to read his paper and went out for a smoke instead.

He's got his back to the wall for now, but anyone who catches a glimpse of the ink on the nape of Sanzo's neck will clearly be able to read the name Cho Hakkai.

Comments

"Oh." Goku can tell that Sanzo hasn't been brainwashed, but he looks intently into Sanzo's eyes as though he wants to make sure of it. After a long moment, he's satisfied that what he sees is the Sanzo he knows, and he relaxes a little.

"Guess that's why I haven't seen you at all at the place I've been. But I always thought that you were still in Shangri-la," he says, frowning.

Goku had been all by himself, in the place he'd been sent to. Of course he'd been lonely, but he consoled himself in the knowledge that at least the others weren't stuck there like he was. It makes him angry to think that Sanzo and the others were just sent to place even more horrible.

"Two years?" Goku stares at him with surprise. "But I just saw you a few weeks ago." He scratches his head, wondering whether there's some kind of trick going on here. He was definitely in Shangri-la the last time he saw Sanzo. And actually, he does remember...

"You were...shooting at somebody. I was attacked...I never saw the guy." His eyes widen. "I was...dying."

"Oh, don't worry, I was okay," Goku says with a reassuring grin. "I guess that's kinda obvious, heh." After all - he's still alive, though not without a little help from his darker side. He'd summoned powers he never knew he commanded, and had healed himself with chi - like Hakkai, except the energy had come from the earth itself. He only remembers this because he dreamed it, just before he woke up in that strange world. His dream had ended there, and he doesn't remember anything else.

"What? Of course I'm alive! I'm here, aren't I?" Goku spreads his arms out in a gesture that seems to say see? Now, they've seen people who'd come back from the dead before, but those people always smelled different. As far as Goku could tell, he didn't smell like death like they did.

"Hehe. Besides, I can't die before you, Sanzo." He smiles. He can't very well be by his side til the end, if he died first.

Sanzo's seen people come back from the dead too, but they don't always smell dead here. He's seen people like Kanan and Master Koumyou, both as alive as they had ever been just before they died. And Goku has already been taken away from Sanzo before, but Goku can't be dead. He just can't.

"That's right, you can't. Because if you did, then I'd have to kill you."

Never mind that you'd already be dead. Sanzo would find a way to track you down and kill you a second time.

"Hehe. Yeah I know." Goku laughs, because that's just the sort of reply he'd expect from Sanzo. He's missed that sarcastic humor, and the obvious underlying warmth in Sanzo's words. There were nice enough people in that world he was sent to, friendly and supportive, but no one will ever be Sanzo.